The present invention relates to methods and systems for the managing of imaging data related to a biological trait.
For various reasons, medical information on the state of a patient is often non-uniformly known. Accessing a given piece of imaging data, or comparing imaging data for a given location that has been collected over time, can be a rather difficult organizational task given that the human body does not come with a quantitative coordinate system.
At present, clinical body maps consist of several macro images of lesions taken using slide films. While the demands of imaging quality call for the use of slides and slide film as a preferred medium for clinical imaging, complete coverage of the approximately 2 square meters of skin surface found on the average body would require some 200 images, each covering approximately 100 square centimeters. However, not all of these images are diagnostically relevant. An appreciable reduction in the total volume of data has been accomplished by obtaining high resolution images of the lesions alone. On the other hand, omitting coverage of some regions runs the risk of not documenting potential problems that are not immediately manifested. Total coverage with a resolution sufficient to identify differences of non-involved skin provides an historical record that may be subsequently retrieved to create a more accurate timeline of events later determined to be of interest. However, in order to track a patient's condition, individual slides of small regions must be uniquely labeled and manually compared to track changes across patient visits to the clinician. However, for the image-based diagnoses and comparisons to be clinically effective, a diagnostic system needs to be able to uniquely and clearly identify a lesion that appears disembodied and without context, especially when viewed through a small aperture. Furthermore, such a system needs to be able to direct the clinician to the appropriate site on a subsequent visit and guide the clinician to obtain a subsequent image using similar or identical photographic settings, such as lighting, filtering and so on. Such a system remains elusive.
Additionally, while computer technology and digital imaging has enabled products to characterize individual lesions and compare pairs of images taken at different time; some even correcting spatial distortions brought on by differences in acquisition conditions; a coordinate system is still lacking. A problem is that the shape of the human body is complex and articulated with a deformable surface that is without a clear frame of reference or even helpful landmarks over large regions. Besides lacking a coordinate system, another problem with digital imaging is that most common digital images lack the requisite resolution to support diagnostic decisions, and digital images that have the requisite resolution tend to generate electronic files that are rather large in size, and thus unruly to manage. Another problem that needs to be addressed is the effect of the pose and its interaction with the available lighting. Furthermore, the problems of pose and lighting and camera positions are further exaggerated by the effects of gravity on patient's skin.
There is therefore a need for a system that allows for an effective management of medical imaging data in light of the aforementioned difficulties.